GDT 9: Devils @ Blue Jackets

Our main problem is our very strict system IMO. We can see the results pretty easily too.

Very rarely you'll see our guys attempting a scoring chances off the rush they always go wide (by themselves even when they are not rush by the dman, as soon they get in the zone they mostly head towards the corner directly, or they dump to get get. Once we're there we have to get the puck to the point, which most of the time goes there to die cause most of our dman are not great offensively. I mean 90% of the time when the puck carrier is about to enter the offensive zone you can already tell nothing good is going to happen but everyone's positioning.

Most of the time on our dump in now we do not win the fights and the other team breakout freely with all our 3 forwards still behind the red line and most are slow so they can't backcheck and catch up. I mean... how often did we get burned being in the zone for awhile and booom easy tic-tac-toe breakout, goal straight off the rush? Thats a big reason why. And we've seen it so fvcking often.

So basically, we play a system where you're not creating good open scoring chances and that you have to be opportunist offensively and we're exposing our slow Dmen most of the time cause the other team have their own defensive zone + neutral zone to freely prepare their plays.

But one reason we we're SO awesome at scoring on the PK in the last few years is cause we'd breakout differently and try to score off the rush instead of slowing down (cause really our puck carrier always slow down when they get to the blue line unless they dump) to settle the play and bring everyone in.

i also think thats one of the reasons Kovy left, with the talent he has and being ask to simply do the same play over and over (and not winning doing it anymore) the best Kovy plays were ALWAYS when we were down a goal late in a game and he'd take it uppon himself to create a scoring chance. He'd then make some crazy rush beating everyone and getting a shot on net 75% of the time he'd even try.

Well, the problem with playing the style you suggest is that our roster can't handle it. We've got what, 1 skilled defenseman and 3 forwards that can play that style? And I'd argue none of those forwards are very good at it either.

I'm just gonna ignore the Kovalchuk part, because I find to he hilariously untrue.

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I dont think you watched tonight's game because Teddy was pretty nice tonight. He had several very nice setups. Usually I'll hate on him but it was enough for me to take notice of his play making tonight.

I didn't watch the game. That was just based on how he has been playing - I was bummed when I saw he being left in the line up. So. So, it looks like DeBoer made a good call keeping him in the lineup after all. People are writing he did a good job but no one wrote "Good call, risking giving him another shot." sucks to be the coach

Devils had two point blank chances wasted last night. Zajac in front on the pass from tedenby and then tedenby's slick move off the rush in the second. Need to start burying those. Tedenby looked great last night

Devils had two point blank chances wasted last night. Zajac in front on the pass from tedenby and then tedenby's slick move off the rush in the second. Need to start burying those. Tedenby looked great last night

'Great' isn't the word I'd use given that turnover that led to the 2nd Columbus goal, but he did create stuff.

Ryder also got himself a great look and then deked himself out of a shot.

Aside from the Zajac chance in the first, the Tedenby chance on that weird 2 on 1 and that tip that hit Bob's mask, not many chances. The third period was especially bad considering we were chasing the game

Well, the problem with playing the style you suggest is that our roster can't handle it. We've got what, 1 skilled defenseman and 3 forwards that can play that style? And I'd argue none of those forwards are very good at it either.

I'm just gonna ignore the Kovalchuk part, because I find to he hilariously untrue.

well we can agree to disagree but i've said this before, but i watched Devils games with my friends who were not Devils fans and they we're literally mindblown on how i could predict precisely what players would do once they'd get the puck all game long.

Especially Kovalchuk on a rush, coming on the left side he'd skate through the blueline and stop along the board between the blueline and the hashmarks and wait for a trailing guy on the inside for a square pass. Then coming on the right side he'd beat the dman with speed, go all the way around the net without even looking in front and pass to the point. 90% of the time he'd do those specific plays and nothing else.

Haha see you're so baised. Teddy rips a defender of the puck like no one else on the team has done, centers creates a great scoring chance, NJDevs ignores. He beats out a defender for a puck then on a 2 on 1 makes a great play and gets a great shot on goal, NJDevs ignores. He tries to clear a puck and its kept in and cory schneider gets beat on a backhand from the top of the circles, NJDevs says GET HIM OFF THE TEAM. Zajac signs a LT deal, tanks it for over a year, ahhh give him time. Henrique becomes a playoff hero, doesn't perform on a nightly basis ever since, ahhh but he beat the rangers!!!! Loktionov makes #1 on sportscenter top 10, ever since then looks like he should still be playing for the manchester monarchs, HES GUNNA BE A FIRST LINER HERE!!!!! You wanna talk about PDB having his pets, NJDevs.com is the #1 offender when it comes to having pets. You're calling it a lost season 9 games in yet you just bitched about me saying the GAME was over.

You say don't give up on zajac, no its not giving up. Dude this isn't a prospect, its a player in what should be his prime performing like garbage nightly. He's got a cap hit like zetterberg, the sedins, lucic, tavares, hall, skinner, seguin, sharp. You wanna put ZAJAC on the same level as those players? No, and if you do youre a kook. You wanna bitch about teddy who skates harder than anyone on the ice, who is actually out there making plays and putting forth an effort. Whatever floats your boat generic njdevs.com poster. But there are much much bigger fish to fry son.

1. Zajac has played 9 games of his deal so far. Yes, we should wait before throwing him under the bus. Same for Henrique. And if you think Zajac plays like garbage, you have no idea what you're talking about.

2. Teddy doesn't need to just create scoring chances and look good for 2 seconds at one moment in the game. He needs to not be fvcking awful at doing everything else too. That or score LOTS of goals. He's done neither.

3. Loktionov makes not that much $$ and no one here is thinking he should score 30 goals or put up 60+ points. I think we'd all be happy with 40+ and that would be a success for him. That is definitely within reach.